There were many kids that lived in that building. The ages of the kids ranged from infants, to kids mostly my age, as well as some older kids that were 16 or 17 years of age. It was a nice building and a great place to live.
Out back of the building, there was a huge grassy area for the kids to play, there was also a playground. For the most part, all of us kids that lived in the building played with one another. Even the teenagers would play with us younger kids. We would play baseball, running bases, soccer, hide and seek, British bulldog, and lots of other games.
Within a few months of moving there I had made many friends and pretty much knew all of the kids that lived there. I also knew most of the adult tenants as well, as did my parents. Everyone was pretty friendly, and every one knew each other.
Since I pretty well knew every one in the building, I felt very safe whenever I was heading outside on my own to play with my friends, or coming into the building from outside by myself. My parents however were still very cautious and were always telling me to be careful whenever I headed outside to play. My dad had also talked with me at length about strangers and how to keep myself safe etc.
My parents made sure that they always knew where I was going, and who I was with. Our apartment was on the side of the building that overlooked the large grassy area where my friends and I would play, so that eased my parents worry some, since they could look outside and keep an eye on me. The rule was that if I went outside to play, I had to stay out back where my parents could see me. If I left the back of the building for whatever reason, my dad would come looking for me.
I could never understand why my dad was always so worried about where I was, and why he believed that some bad stranger would come along and take me. I felt completely safe and thought he was just a big worrier.
One afternoon, I headed into the building after being outside playing with my friends. It was summer and I was really hot from being out in the sun. I decided to head inside for awhile to cool off.
I entered one of the back doors of the building. As I was going inside and the door was just about to close behind me, I heard someone grab a hold of the door to keep it from slamming shut. I turned around and saw a young man coming through the door. I had never seen him before. He smiled at me, but I just turned around to head to the elevator.
He stood near me, waiting for the elevator as well. Right away I had a funny feeling about that man. I sensed danger.
The elevator doors then opened and I stepped into the elevator. The man stepped in after me. I stood in front of the buttons panel in the elevator. I did not push any buttons. Neither did the man. The elevator doors closed and the elevator was just sitting there not moving. I looked at the man, waiting for him to push the button for the floor he was heading to, but he just stood there smiling at me.
All of a sudden, it was as if someone told me, "Get away from him." I decided to push the button for the second floor, even though I lived on the fourth floor. I decided that I was going to get off on the second floor to get away from this guy and would head up the stairs to my apartment.
The elevator landed on the second floor and the doors opened. I left the elevator and headed for the stairwell. Just as I was about to step onto the third floor landing, I heard a man call out to me. He said, "Excuse me." I turned around and saw the same man that was in the elevator with me. He was only 6 or 7 stairs below me.
I never even heard him come into the stairwell after me. Something told me to not stop but keep moving, to get away from him. And I listened.
He said excuse me again and then said, "I've lost my little puppy and I was wondering if you could come with me to help me find him."
The entire time he was asking that question, something told me to keep moving away from him so, I kept walking up the stairs. Yet he did too.
After he asked me to go help him find his dog, a voice in my head told me to run. And run is exactly what I did. I darted up the stairs as fast as I could go. When I reached the fourth floor, I whipped open the stairwell door and ran to my apartment (which was right next to the stairwell). I whipped open my apartment door and flew into the apartment as fast as my legs would carry me.
My mom and dad were both sitting in the kitchen and when they saw me rush into the apartment like that my dad said, "Whoa, take it easy."
I immediately told them about what had just happened. My dad took off out of the apartment and ran down the stairs to try and catch him. My mom started to cry and then hugged me. She told me that she was so proud of me and glad that I didn't go with that man.
A few moments later my dad came back into the apartment and was visibly winded from running. He looked at my mom and said, "The son of a bitch must have taken off quickly, I checked the stairwell and the first floor and saw no one." He then went to the phone and called the police.
Two police officers arrived at our house within minutes. They wrote down my story as I relayed it to them and then asked me all about what the man looked like. I gave the best description I could, while one of the officers wrote everything down. They then left to go search the building, the surrounding area including the neighbourhood to see if they could find him.
They however, never did find him.
I don't know where that inner voice inside of me came from that day. It could have been my guardian angel, or it could have simply been my own intuition. Either way, I am thankful that I chose to heed the advice and get the hell away from that guy. I don't even want to think about what may have happened to me if I had ignored my gut feeling and instead went with him.
As I've said before in my blog posts here on this site, there have been many times throughout my life when that inner voice, that inner knowing was loud and clear. I have always followed it, and it has never steered me wrong.
The apartment building where I lived, as it looks today.
Copyright © 2013 A Haunted Life
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